~ Northwest Born, Bred, Baked.

Tag Archives: walnuts

For my second plum project, I found a recipe for plum bread from the good ol’ 1001 Muffins Cookbook. I wanted this bread to be pretty hearty, so I added wheat bran, oats, and walnuts. This is a great breakfast bread that you can feel good about eating since it’s packed with some healthy stuff! It comes together super quick, making it a nice go-to for when you have my problem of a plum tree that won’t stop giving you fruit. Next up, I’ll be stepping into more decadent plum treats…

Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease and flour and 8 1/2 x 4 1/2 x 2 1/2 inch loaf pan.

In a large bowl, blend together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, wheat bran, sugar, oats, and walnuts. In a medium bowl, beat the egg until foamy before beating in the buttermilk, butter, and plums. Combine the two mixtures, blending until the dry ingredients are moistened.

Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 35 to 40 minutes, or until a cake tester or wooden toothpick inserted into the center of the bread comes out clean and the top is a light golden color. REmove from the oven and cool the pan on a wire rack for 5 to 10 minutes before removing the loaf from the pan.

Last year on my Instagram feed, I started taking note of all of these National “food days.” I would be like, “Is it seriously granola bar day? Who comes up with this shit?”

I guess there is a “day” for just about any food you can think of, and while it’s totally bonkers ridiculous, I couldn’t help but put my favorite food days on my calendar, so I would be ready for 2015. And there we go – another one of my 2015 blogging goals. These “days” I will be celebrating represent recipes I have always wanted to try, maybe even recipes I didn’t know I wanted to try, but nonetheless things I have always thought would be fun to make.

So Granola Bars – Obviously one of my favorite things on earth. Easy, on the go, sometimes healthy, sometimes not. However, I had never made my own. They were always in store-bought form which is something I try to stay away from these days. Continue reading →

It happens at this time every year…you can’t avoid it…the fruitcake joke. I have to admit, I never really understood it, since I was never subjected to fruitcake growing up. I was never gifted it, never tried it, never really thought about it. All I knew is it must be really, really bad for it to somehow come up as this terrible thing every year.

Enter Christmas 2014 – what I am deeming as the “fruitcake phase.” I found out from my mom and aunt that not only did they grow up with my grandpa making fruitcake every year, but he never really gave it away…since he loved it so much. To this day, it is the only thing he has ever baked in his entire life – that is how much he loves the stuff. So, we found the old recipe he used, from a 1950 copy of the Gourmet Cookbook. Still having this cookbook is a treasure in itself, and I think this is about as classic of a fruitcake as you can get.

So, we made a few loaves…and I started to understand the stigma around the dreaded dessert. It’s a dense cake full of weird candied fruit whose sole purpose is to put in the cakes, and then it literally “ripens” in booze for a few weeks. What? I’m all about things chillin in booze, but it was a little weird. However, this fruitcake is real, it’s not a store-bought 10 pound bowling ball that’s already wrapped and easy to regift. It’s real, old-school ingredients, that really don’t end up tasting that bad, if you are into that sort of thing. Which my family is. Jordan and I are still on the fence about classic fruitcake, but I totally get it now (finally). But I couldn’t stop there, I had to go on and make fruitcake cookies…

Don’t ask about the cat…He was apparently going through a fruitcake phase as well. Anyways though, I was a tad skeptical about these cookies. I hoped they would be lighter than actual fruitcake while I was letting the fruit soak in some booze. I hoped people would actually want to eat them…and they turned out great! They are not the prettiest cookie in the world…Sort of like the ugly duckling of cookies, not too cute, but once they hit your lips…so good! Continue reading →

Pumpkin bread is kind of a ‘duh’ thing to be making right now. I mean…………it’s time for pumpkin EVERYTHING. This year is worse than any other year. I have never seen so many ridiculous flavored pumpkin things…but that didn’t stop me from buying some “Limited Edition” Pumpkin Spice flavored “morsels” (do you HATE the word morsels too?).

Yeah – I just had to. But thankfully, I found a pumpkin bread recipe that will last for years to come. It will still be good even after these pumpkin chips get discontinued forever and ever. It will taste good in July, considering the way things are going these days Halloween stuff will probably start hitting the stores mid-summer in the years to come.

The reason this pumpkin bread recipe is great is because you use an ENTIRE can of pumpkin. Nothing is worse than opening a can of pumpkin and having half of it sitting around with you twiddling your thumbs, not knowing what to do with it. Yes – this recipe makes 3 loaves, but the bread freezes great, and ’tis the season to start pawning off all of your baked goods on family and friends.

Side note: I really like using a mini-loaf pan for these sorts of things because they are super fun. If you don’t have a mini loaf pan, use the cheap store-bought foil ones – they work WAY better than my fancy Le Creuset loaf pan (sad but true).

Until next year, pumpkin bread. I’ll definitely be revisiting this recipe. Do you have any favorite pumpkin bread recipes you would like to share? I’d love to find the ultimate recipe, and for now this one is close!

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Grease and flour 3 (7×3 inch) loaf pans, or use a mini loaf pan if you have one.

2. In a large bowl, mix together pumpkin puree, eggs, oil, water and sugar until well blended. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and ginger. Stir the dry ingredients into the pumpkin mixture until just blended. Add the chips and walnuts, if using. I roasted my walnuts in a skillet on low heat for a few minutes before adding, just to amp it up a little. Pour into the greased pans.

3. Bake for about 50 minutes in the oven, only about 25-30 minutes if you are using a mini loaf pan. Loaves are done when toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cool and invert bread onto a wired rack if desired.

This is THE salad dressing. It goes great on just about any kind of salad. I cannot tell you how many times I have dug through my email, trying to find the recipe that my mom has sent me on numerous occasions. It is so easy to make, very few ingredients, yet for some reason I cannot memorize this recipe for the life of me! Let’s hope this post helps it sink in more. I’m just relieved that now that I’ve posted it I’ll have easier access to it!

The classic salad for this dressing is a combination of pear, toasted walnut, and bleu cheese. Grilled chicken on top makes it a complete meal (if you aren’t vegetarian).

Last night, I didn’t quite have all of those ingredients, but I was close enough, and it was just as delicious: Asian Pear, candied pecans, and goat cheese, with the dressing drizzled on top. Honestly one of the most delicious and satisfying salads you can have!

Recipe
Honey Mustard VinaigretteMakes enough for a salad that serves 2-4 (depending on if entree size salad or side salad)

Ingredients

3 Tablespoons Olive oil

1 Tablespoon apple cider vinegar

dash Salt

dash Pepper

Squirt of honey mustard

Squirt of honey

VARIATIONS:

Use dijon mustard or grainy mustard instead of honey mustard.

Add a clove of minced garlic if you are feeling a little more zesty!

Add olive oil, apple cider vinegar, salt, and pepper to a bowl. whisk until combined. While whisking, add in a squirt of honey (at least a tablespoon) continue whisking and add a squirt (again, about a tablespoon) of honey mustard. You can add more honey or mustard to taste. I used French’s Honey Mustard, although other brands will work. Just make sure it is REAL honey mustard, not the lighter colored kind you find at some fast food restaurants.

I have always had a love/hate relationship with Honey Walnut Shrimp. I go to a restaurant, order it, get so excited, get it, first bite tastes great…then it’s all downhill from there. I find it too heavy, greasy, and rich. They seem to fry the shrimp in something weird and I always end up feeling gross, telling myself it’s not worth the pain involved.

Imagine the joy when I somehow came up with a lighter version. No frying, no heavy grossness. An added kick, while still being slightly sweet. Add some broccoli and brown rice, and you’re set for dinner super quick and easy.